I have been playing around with fabrics for another red white and blue table runner.  I dug out an old Schnibbles pattern I had never made, one called "Recess".  It looked super easy, so I figured I could just whip it out.  Cutting the rectangular shaped pieces was a cinch.  What I did not notice at first was that the layout of units was not random.  It was trickier than I first thought to get things laid out in a pleasing manner without the same colors butting up against each other.  Also, if you look, you can see that you need two of each fabric to make a sort of Z shaped arrangement.  I spent way too much time placing my fabrics the way I wanted them.

Despite the fiddly placement, the sewing is simple and the quilt is coming together pretty fast.  Of course I had to change the size up from square to rectangular.  I may use this one on the coffee table in my living room.  

Recess is a great pattern to use with charm squares.  You would nicely get two matching units out of each charm square.  I didn't have any patriotic themed charm packs, so I had to rummage in my stash for a nice mix of fabrics.  I mostly used 22" long fat quarter scraps, and cut strips 2 1/4" long.  You get five 4" units out of a 22" long strip, but only need four of them.  I have a lot of odd pieces left over, and may use them to make a small square topper and have it be totally random, without the Z pattern.   A little square table topper looks so sweet with a candle on it, or a vase of flowers.

Hope you are having a great week!